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Did You Know?

Trivia:

Originally intended as a double-bill with "Secret File: Hollywood" which would ultimately be released until mid-1962, early promotional materials such as the official campaign (press) book, movie posters and lobby cards list the film title in the form of a numerical word '7th'. When the film was finally released in December, 1961, the film title sequence displays the name of the film as the word 'seven'.See more »

Director Irvin Berwick (Monster of Piedras Blancas, Hitchhike to
Hell,
Malibu High) is not a name that would come to mind when I think
of
thought-provoking religious dramas. So imagine my surprise
when
I see such a film wrapped up within a hard-boiled blackmail
melodrama!
While it could be argued that the evangelical setting of about
half
the movie is a mere plot element, Berwick takes it too
seriously,
spends too much time on it, and ends the film in such a way
that
it's clear the resolution of the religious drama is far more
important
to him than the resolution of the crime drama.
This is actually a study of the nature of faith and salvation,
put into a marketable crime melodrama package.
Was Mr. Berwick ever interviewed about this film? It obviously
must
have meant a lot to him. Now I'm anxious to see the films he
made
after this in the mid-60s: Strange Compulsion and The Street Is
My
Beat.
Although not as over-the-top as The World's Greatest Sinner
or
Wise Blood, and not as slick as Elmer Gantry, the Seventh
Commandment
really belongs on the same shelf as those classics.
I don't want to give away much of the plot, as the element of
surprise
is important. However, if the combination of a gritty b&w
low-budget
blackmail melodrama mixed with serious religious issues of
faith
and salvation sounds intriguing, track this film down.
I've never really seen anything like it!

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